The writer of Hebrews wanted to show his Jewish readers how Jesus fulfils all the symbols contained in the temple, the priesthood and sacrificial system of the old covenant. They were inclined to keep holding on to those symbols, but the author shows how absurd this is. Imagine a football coach who explains a gameplan by moving magnets around a field diagram on a whiteboard. The players understand that the real game isn’t going to be played on the whiteboard, but on the field. Once the game starts the whiteboard in the locker room becomes obsolete except as a reference for understanding the gameplan. In the same way the temple symbols served as a reference for what Jesus would do, and now has done. The ‘game’ has started, it is played out in the real heavenly realms, so the symbols are a mere reference. The writer of Hebrews is encouraging his readers to live in the reality of what Jesus has done. He wanted his Jewish readers to stop acting out religious rituals and experience the full blessing and power of what was available to them through Jesus. Let’s not therefore reduce our Christian faith to a religious game. Let’s not just go through religious motions and play at theological word games. Jesus has overcome sin and defeated the powers of darkness. This has actually happened, and we can experience this reality as we apply it in our lives and the lives of others. Let’s remember what we learned in the locker room but focus on playing the real game. Let’s move from theory to reality, because the real thing has begun.
Ask God to make his promises and his purpose real for you.
Read Hebrews 8
